very pretty rug, but it does show one area of pretty hard wear from what I see. Keep in mind, appraisal is often an inflated value, or *replacement* cost. It's not uncommon for some dealers to give an appraisal in which their fee is directly correlated to the "value" of the rug. In other words, if they charge 10% of the value of the rug, they would have gotten $350 for this appraisal, and their incentive is to "appraise" the carpet for higher than it's actual worth. The best thing to do is find out what the appraisal was, and who it was from.

the circle in orange is a what looks to me like hard isolated wear. the rug could have this allover: uneven wear is a rug value nightmare. the pink circle in the upper left hand corner looks like another are of problem. It's tinted a little bit of a different color, so it could be dry rot, staining or other.

can you inspect the rug in person? where is it located, maybe there's a dealer nearby who can inspect it?

This is a nice looking rug. Going by the top colors used, because they're bright, I would say this is an "American" Design Sarouk from 1960. It would be great to have better pictures but these are good. I like this rug, and I like the last one you posted. I don't like to generalize, but, often is the case that the newer the rug, the less wear and problems it will have. That's not always the case, but I think if you want to purchase a Persian rug, start out with one that has good life left in it. These American Sarouk designs are one of the most popular Karastans ever made, so it's good because it's also timeless. Be careful with this sarouk rug, depending on the age, the quality will indicate if it's a true sarouk or arak. It doesn't affect the value a tremendous amount, but arak kinda adapted the sarouk design to accomodate high western demand.

Hey netjim!

Karastan 700 series are almost bulletproof. solid rugs at a reasonable price. I don't mean to hijack the thread, but they actually still make this design? If they do, I don't even know why I would be surprised, I guess it's just a really long run, but then again, it is one of the most timeless rugs

Mosaic, the first sarouk you posted is a beautiful rug, I would just ask for detail photographs. 1200 is not horrible a deal if it's in the condition it appears, but I get the feeling that the rug you purchase you want to snag for a steal.

Take a look at this sarouk dr. sobhe has on rugmaster blogspot. Apparently the customer who brought it in wanted to have the fringe finished better, they got a 5,000 rug for something like 250 dollars at an estate sale.

http://rugmaster.blogspo...et-american-sarouk.html

important notes on that rug: the dark background is rare, and more desirable... $$$, Colors in close up picture are rich, deep and undisturbed. The refringe was a horrible addition, but they did a good job fixing it. If the fringe were still on it, this would detract from the value, I would go so far as to say the corrective repair sobco did increased the value to where the rug should be. Bad refringe almost always gives a strike on the rug. They used glue on this one! bad...

You have really good taste mosaic. where are you located again?

that older one... it is a bit worn...

for the newer one... This is not the fail safe way, but one of the better ways to figure out if it's an arak or sarouk for this vintage of rug is to take a photograph of the back of the rug with a quarter placed on it. I'll take a close look, but it has to be a good and clear image.